After a week’s delay, monsoon arrives in India, Kerala gets rains

Rains are usually predicted to hit Kerala on the 1st of June every year.

A boy holds his father's hand as they walk on a beach in the backdrop of pre-monsoon clouds in Kochi | Reuters file photo

New Delhi: Monsoon has reached the Indian mainland, the India Meteorological Department declared Friday.

The weather office said in a statement: “Southwest Monsoon has set in over Kerala today, the 8th June, 2023, against the normal date of 1st June.”

The office confirmed monsoon has begun after taking into account the rainfall measured at weather stations in Kerala and westerly wind speeds.

Earlier, the Met department had expected the arrival of rains in the Kerala coast around 4 June, but the formation of a severe cyclonic storm, Biparjoy, in the Arabian Sea further delayed the onset. This is the latest the monsoon has been in seven years.

The department said conditions were now favourable for the monsoon to advance into the central Arabian Sea and parts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Monsoon from June to September delivers 70% of the rains India needs to water its fields and recharge its reservoirs.